Head coach Kevin Olsen returns for his seventh season with the program, his third as head coach. (Brandon Boles / Fort Morgan Times)

WIGGINS — Kevin Olsen is no stranger to turning around the Wiggins basketball program.

Six years ago, Olsen came in as an assistant coach to a program looking to get back on track. After serving some time as an assistant, he took the reins as the head coach two years ago. During that time as an assistant and head coach, Olsen saw the Tigers go to three straight appearances at State after struggling initially.

Now, the team is looking to get back to their winning ways, as Olsen enters his seventh season with the Tigers basketball program, and his third season as the head coach.

"It's been a process the last couple seasons," Olsen said.

The Tigers work hard during a conditioning drill in a preseason practice. (Brandon Boles / Fort Morgan Times)

One area the team is looking to get better on is defense, which has had a heavy emphasis on preseason practices for the Tigers so far.

"We've worked on a lot of our defensive philosophies we're looking to install this year," Olsen said. "We need to trust each other that if we get beat, someone will be there to help us out."

Helping out this season with Olsen is first year assistant Justin Adams. Throughout practices, Adams was seen running team drills and taking control of practices at times during the preseason. He is another voice who will help the Tigers out for the upcoming season.

"I'm excited about having Justin (Adams) on board this year," Olsen said on his first-year assistant coach.

With the coaches and the athletes returning to the team, expectations are high for the Tigers. After having many underclassmen, including freshmen, start a few seasons ago, there is a good junior and senior class ready to lead Wiggins this year.

"Those freshmen I had starting are now juniors, and I got two seniors on the team as well," Olsen said on the upperclassmen making up the roster. "They all know what needs to be done. I have high expectations for this season."

Wiggins will look to improve in scoring this season, working hard on their half court sets while also putting a focus in the transition game during practices this preseason.

"We need to be patient and run our offense," Olsen said on working with his offense. "Just running our offense like we're supposed to, set good ball screens, really do well with all the fundamental stuff."

As for the defense, the Tigers have some size and length that could make them tough to score on. With the team, Wiggins will look to mix both man and zone principles against their opponents.

Along with some good non-conference games scheduled, the Tigers will play in the strong Lower Platte conference, which featured all but two teams with a record above .500. The 2A State runner ups hailed from the same conference last year.

While the team has begun their regular season, Olsen wants his team to enjoy coming to the gym after school every day and work hard in practice, something he enjoys himself during his time in basketball.

"I've always enjoyed the work," Olsen said on practice. "I enjoy the games, but I always enjoy coming in and working with the guys at practice."

Wiggins last season finished 5-16 on the year and 1-7 in conference play. With many of the athletes having some experience under their belt, the Tigers remain optimistic on the 2014-15 campaign.

So far, the Tigers have faced Weldon Valley and Brush in the first week of the regular season. The team will host a Holiday Tournament this Friday and Saturday at the Events Center in Wiggins.

Article Comments

We reserve the right to remove any comment that violates our ground rules, is spammy, NSFW, defamatory, rude, reckless to the community, etc.

We expect everyone to be respectful of other commenters. It's fine to have differences of opinion, but there's no need to act like a jerk.

Use your own words (don't copy and paste from elsewhere), be honest and don't pretend to be someone (or something) you're not.

Our commenting section is self-policing, so if you see a comment that violates our ground rules, flag it (mouse over to the far right of the commenter's name until you see the flag symbol and click that), then we'll review it.